Barbed wire and Bagged Water

Three weeks ago I packed up my apartment in BKK and left Thailand as discreetly as possible—so as to avoid getting soaked with water and chalk powder by the revelers celebrating Songkran, the wet & wild Thai New Year that coincided with my departure date.
There aren't as many direct flights between BKK and Monrovia as you would imagine, so my itinerary was somewhat circuitous: I took a long long long flight from Thailand via Qatar to Morocco (where I stopped for a few days and was joined by my father), then on to Senegal (where I crashed for a long weekend at the puppy-infested Zalman Dakar Expat mansion), and finally on to Liberia. Well that last transition wasn't so seamless: I was meant to transit through Abidjan but my onward flight was canceled which stranded me in Côte d'Ivoire. Personally I felt that the unexpected stopover in a crime-ridden post-war city was the perfect introduction to my third and final placement in Liberia.

After a few days I did get a flight out and, despite the Liberian Immigration Dept's best efforts to keep me out (yay for showing up without a visa and nearly getting arrested & deported!), I finally managed to get to Liberia. I have now I've been here nearly two weeks and am gradually settling in....
Unfortunately Monrovia bears the scars of the 12-year Liberian civil war. Scratch that actually, those scars are still open wounds: frequent power cuts, no running water, gutters clogged with casually discarded trash, roads covered in jagged potholes, sewer manholes without covers, small shacks erected between crumbling buildings, rusted barbed wire police roadblocks etc. Monrovia makes Vukovar look like Singapore.
But T.I.A. and, as usual, the population here survives and smiles, from the young war amputees on crutches agilely navigating the rutted sidewalks, to the mamas selling mangoes and grilled cassava on the corner, to the children playing in the rubble of bombed out buildings, to the UNMIL peacekeeping soldiers in their erratic flurries of blue helmet activity. And the street scene has its own unique soundtrack: the blasting gospel music from stores and the hip hop (usually Akon) being played by the roaming wheelbarrow street vendors mingles with the car horns of the white NGO trucks and the Premier League football matches being broadcast live on the radio. This cacophony gushes in through my office, which overlooks one of the busiest streets in downtown Monrovia. Ah, to be back in Africa…

In my first couple of weeks here, I've already been very busy: I went clubbing with the Liberian National Basketball coach and half the team. I met one of Charles Taylor's former bodyguards. I went to a UN party and watched with amusement as they all rushed home for their 2am curfew. I went to the beach and watched as several expat surfers strutted around and then wiped out in the very rough surf. I learned to chug a half-liter of cold water out of a plastic bag (cheaper and more common than bottled water) and I've nearly perfected my bucket bath technique. I watched Shrek with the kids in my apartment building and thoroughly enjoyed the inexplicably creative subtitles:

Shrek: No Donkey, you can't stay here, it's my swamp.
(subtitle reads: Horse's Ass, go away, this here my amphibious house)
Donkey: But Shrek, it's not fair
(subtitle reads: History Lake, you are beautiful)

Life in the office is not quite as entertaining, but it's interesting and extremely busy. I am working with Youth Action International (YAI), an NGO that works to support and empower conflict-affected youth in Africa. My good friend from college and internationally recognized child rights activist, Kimmie Weeks, founded YAI a few years ago and has tried to get me to come work with him for years. Thanks to the Insight Fellowship, I finally have that opportunity. My project is to develop new partnerships and programs for YAI, particularly focusing on raising youth awareness of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). I'm also developing a series of workshops for youth groups on peace-building and conflict transformation. Plus I'm going to review and develop all current programs, streamline office efficiency, and conduct trainings for the local staff. So really not all that much to do for the next couple of months…